Firsts
by SandUnicorn
Summary: A compilation of stories about how Temari and Kankuro get to know and discover new things about Gaara in their newfound relationship with him.
1. The First Thank You

The first time Gaara thanked Temari was when they were on the way back to Suna after the failed Konoha invasion. After a few hours of travelling to try and get as much distance from Konoha as possible, the siblings stopped for the night in a small clearing in the forest. Kankuro had set up several traps around their campsite and then fell asleep right away, as he had not fully recovered from his battle with Shino. Gaara was sitting on the grass, propped up on a tree trunk. Temari was tending to his wounded shoulder, first wiping of the blood and putting ointment. She thanked the stars for the many years she has trained as a shinobi as it kept her hands from shaking despite the series of events that have led up to their current situation. She then proceeded to bandaging her brother's shoulder while she thought of how to get food for the night. Whatever food pills they have wouldn't suffice; normally, she would berate Kankuro for falling asleep and neglecting his share of responsibilities, but she understood that his fight with 'that weird bug freak', as Kankuro had put it, took its toll on his body, so she let him rest. She would just have to see if there was a stream nearby so she could catch a few fish. She also wondered where in the world Baki was; prior to arriving in Konoha, he had told the siblings that if ever things wouldn't go as planned, he would meet up with them for further instructions. Temari sighed. They would just have to wait until Baki finds them. Temari began to clean the dried blood on Gaara's forehead while thinking about what their plan of action would be if they were ambushed by shinobi from Konoha during the night to capture them and take them back for interrogation; or what she and Kankuro would do if Gaara had another one of his 'episodes', which she thought was highly unlikely given his condition, but she could never be too sure...

"Thank you."

Temari had been so lost in her own thoughts that she did it took her a few seconds to realize that her brother had said something.

"Err... D-did you say something, Gaara?"

"I said thank you. For treating my wounds."

Temari raised her eyebrows in surprise. "O-oh! Sure, no problem." She dabbed a small amount of ointment on the small wound on Gaara's forehead. "I'll change your bandages again tomorrow." With that, she stood up and returned the roll of bandages and jar of ointment to one of her pouches, realizing that that was the most she had ever said to Gaara, as far as she could remember. Moreover, that was the first time he had thanked her-and said anything polite to her, for that matter.

Later that night, as Temari began to make a fire to cook the fish she caught in a stream which was fortunately near their camp site, she began to think about the thank you she received from her brother. She was a highly analytical person, but she found no reason as to why Gaara would say that. Had his fight with the Uzumaki kid from Konoha have something to do with it? Temari wasn't too sure. She would just have to talk about it with Kankuro when they get home. She wasn't about to let down her guard, either. Kind words spoken from the person she feared most and had terrorized her for most of her life wasn't going to change her mind that easily. She knew it was harsh given that they were siblings, but right now, she just wasn't convinced, and Gaara had told her and Kankuro more than once that he never even considered them as his siblings. Later that night, however, as she lied down on the grass to rest, she kept replaying the moment where Gaara had thanked her. She didn't want to admit it, but somewhere deep in her heart, a hope for her brother had sparked.


	2. The First Conversation

The first time Kankuro had a conversation with Gaara was eight days after the Sand Siblings arrived home from the failed Konoha invasion. Kankuro had been so concentrated on upgrading Karasu that day that he missed lunch, and so emerged from his room for the first time since waking up to go to the kitchen. As he filled his plate with rice, chicken gizzard skewers, and fried vegetables, he felt an all-too-familiar chakra enter the room. Gaara walked in and stood a few feet from him.

Kankuro mentally cringed in fear, but kept an impassive face. Gaara's apology stunned him and Temari, and the older boy seemed to soften up to the jinchῡriki, even if it was just a little. Still, Kankuro knew better than to suddenly start being all friendly towards his unstable and unpredictable brother, so he did what he knew was safest: ignore Gaara and let him do his own thing. He was about to bite off one of the skewers when his brother spoke.

"Can I join you?"

Kankuro paused, the skewer midway through his open mouth. He turned to Gaara, who was staring at him. "W-what?" he said lamely. _Stupid!_ He thought to himself. _You should have just said yes! Now he's going to be pissed!_

"Can I join you for lunch?" Gaara repeated, breaking his gaze and shifting his stare to the left instead. Kankuro thought that he actually looked... shy.

"Uh... sure," Kankuro answered after a few moments. Gaara nodded and took a seat across from him. Kankuro tried to figure out the situation. Gaara never ate his meals when there are other people around; he simply disliked being around other people when he could avoid it. So it was odd that Gaara entered the kitchen knowing that Kankuro was inside, and odder still that he had actually asked for Kankuro's permission to join him at the table.

 _Maybe he's… reaching out?_ Kankuro forced himself to think the seemingly impossible. He thought about how Gaara had begun to act strangely ever since he apologized to him and Temari. During their journey from Konoha to Suna, Gaara had offered to gather food and collect water during their stopovers. Three days ago, he told Temari that she had forgotten her weapons pouch by the door after she arrived home from training, and yesterday, he told Kankuro that he should think about getting a second puppet. It seemed that Gaara was, in fact, trying to change. Kankuro decided to test his theory. He just hoped he didn't put his life at risk for doing so.

"S-so, uh, do you always eat lunch this late?" Kankuro asked in an uncharacteristically light tone.

A look of surprise registered on Gaara's face for a moment before returning to his usual impassive one. He obviously did not expect Kankuro, to initiate a casual conversation with him, of all people.

"Yes," Gaara replied. Kankuro was about to ask why, but stopped himself. _Careful now, don't be too nosy._ Silence followed his brother's reply. Kankuro decided to try again.

"So… y-you like chicken gizzard skewers a lot, huh," Kankuro said, forcing a smile and gesturing to the four skewers that Gaara had put on his plate.

"Yeah… gizzards are my favorite."

Kankuro didn't know which surprised him more: the fact that Gaara actually responded to a yes or no question with additional details, or that Gaara actually favored something else besides blood. He quickly dismissed the latter thought and thought of what to say next.

"Oh! So, uh, do you have any other favorite food?" Kankuro mentally face-palmed himself. He sounded so awkward.

"I like salted tongue, too. That's about it. Do you have any favorites?"

Kankuro couldn't believe it. He and Gaara were actually _conversing_. And Gaara had not threatened to kill him since he entered the room. That was definitely something. Kankuro decided to let his guard down a bit.

"Burger steaks," he answered. "Although Temari always tells me to stop eating them every other day."

"Why?"

"She thinks they're too full of fat and salt. Heh, as if she knows anything about food. She's actually a terrible cook!" Kankuro snorted, then stopped abruptly when he remembered who he was talking to. He was so used to teasing Temari that he got carried away. Nervously, he glanced up at Gaara, expecting him to be annoyed at him for talking too much. That had always been the case. However, he was surprised to see that Gaara's expression looked anything but irked. In fact, Gaara was looking at him with a calm expression as well as a hint of humor.

"I see. But Temari is right. Eating healthy helps a lot during training and missions," he replied.

"I guess I'll keep that in mind, then." Silence fell between the two brothers. Kankuro felt a smile tugging at his lips as they continued to eat. He just had a conversation. With his brother. Gaara of the Desert. The One Tails' jinchuriki. Weapon of the Sand. The relief he felt was similar to that of completing an A-rank mission without any serious injury. Truthfully, the absence of death threats and murderous glares felt unreal, but he knew it was because he wasn't yet used to this new version of Gaara, who seemed closer to a regular teenage boy than a monster. As Gaara reached for his fifth skewer, Kankuro decided that he would eat lunch at a later time more often.

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 **A/N:** So apparently, my flow of ideas stop after posting the first chapter of the three stories I've written so far -_- That's why I haven't been able to update any of them, which sucks :( As for this second chapter for "Firsts", it's been stuck in my head for weeks now but I just wasn't able to correctly phrase my thoughts until last night. Actually, I'm still quite disappointed with how this chapter turned out. I will most probably edit it in a few days... or weeks. Anyway, please do review! I feel I have a lot to improve on when it comes to writing stories, and I would really appreciate the constructive criticism. Also, please help me out by giving ideas on what things-that-Gaara-experiences-for-the-first-time I could write about! Thanks!


	3. The First Smile

The first time Temari and Kankuro saw Gaara smile—well, the first time since he was six years old, anyway; and not in the psychotic way his lips would curl when he was overcome by bloodlust—was three weeks after the Sand Siblings returned from Konoha. By now, the atmosphere in their residence had changed, had felt calm and peaceful for the first time. Temari, though still wary about the demon her youngest brother was harboring and still mentally devised a plan of escape every time she was in the same room as him, had eased up enough that she was able to have her usual banter with Kankuro in Gaara's presence without worrying too much about annoying Gaara and consequently receiving death threats. Well, not as worried as before, anyway.

It was only recently that Temari began to loosen up to her youngest brother, too, unlike Kankuro, who had been more accepting of this new attitude of Gaara's and started to become comfortable around him just days after they arrived home. It took Kankuro some convincing for Temari to do the same. Last week,, the three siblings were all in the kitchen having dinner—Gaara had started to join them for meals more than a week ago, much to Temari's surprise—and Kankuro made a sassy comment about his sister's cooking. Normally, if it were just the two of them in the room, Temari would be spitting back her own insults or attempting to shove Kankuro's face into his plate of stir-fry. Instead, she just stared at him wide-eyed, not even bothering to turn her expression into an icy glare. Kankuro was clearly not following the unspoken rules of What Not To Do In Gaara's Presence: saying something stupid and irrelevant and unnecessary was definitely top of the list. She glanced at Gaara and awaited another one of his infamous death threats, but much to her surprise and confusion, none came. Instead, his face was blank as he continued to eat his own share of stir-fry. Realizing an awkward silence had followed, Temari let out a half-hearted _hmph_ , and then settled into an uncharacteristic silence.

After dinner, when Gaara headed out to wherever he was going to spend the night, Temari pulled Kankuro aside just as he was about to retire to his room. She gave him a questioning look.

"What?" Kankuro looked at her with a similar expression.

"What do you mean, 'what'? What was that during dinner?"

"Look Temari, it was just a joke—"

"Why were you being so talkative and so... casual around Gaara?" Temari put her hands on her hips. "You were lucky he just wasn't in the mood and decided to ignore your blabbering."

Kankuro crossed his arms and leaned on the wall. "That's _exactly_ why I was able to be myself around him. You think it's just luck or coincidence that he decided not to threaten me or tell me to shut up during dinner? The guy hasn't threatened us once since we left Konoha!"

"So what are you saying?" Temari asked, although she knew full well what her brother meant.

"I'm _saying_... he's trying to change, Temari. Trying to reach out. I know it sounds weird, because it's _Gaara_ , but... I dunno. We're his siblings. We've got to support this new version of himself. I can see that he's trying really hard, and I know that you do, too."

For once, Temari didn't know what to answer. Kankuro was right: she's been noticing the huge changes in Gaara's attitude and in his actions, but she was just too stubborn to accept the change, too afraid of the Shukaku that she witnessed emerge once again a few short weeks ago.

"Come on, Temari," Kankuro continued when she didn't respond. "He's stopped threatening us, and he even tries to start conversations. When it comes to Gaara, that is a _huge_ deal, and we can't just ignore it. Don't you want to see him become a better person?"

Temari studied her brother's face. He wasn't wearing the usual condescending scowl he wore when facing opponents; instead, his expression was serious full of concern. It was moments like this when she secretly thanked Kami she got to see this other side of Kankuro.

"I do," she finally admitted. "I guess you're right. If anyone's gonna start supporting this new Gaara, it should be us."

"There ya go!" Kankuro smiled at her. "Anyway, I have to continue working on my new puppet now. 'Night, sis." He proceeded to climb the stairs to his room.

"Kankuro?" Temari called after him.

"Yeah?"

"If you don't want to starve, don't insult my cooking ever again."

At present, the three Sand Siblings were lounging in the living room. It was rare for all three to be home at the same time, and they were enjoying the day off. Temari and Kankuro had fired off into another one of their usual banter a while ago; Gaara simply ignored them and continued reading his book. As he turned the page, he caught on to what Temari was firing back at their brother.

"—because who puts cat ears on their battle garb anyway? It's not intimidating. Actually, you don't even look like a cat! You look like an overweight bat minus the wings."

Kankuro turned slightly red. There were only a handful of people who could be on par with his trash talking skills. His sister was one of them. "Oh yeah? At least I don't look like I have four freakin' porcupines for hair! Porcupine Head!"

Temari flushed red. She absolutely _hated_ that stupid nickname her brother had made up for her when they were kids, when she first started tying her hair to four ponytails.

She was about to go off with another string of insults when she saw something she didn't expect to see at all. Gaara, who was still reading his book, was smiling, obviously amused at Kankuro's retort. Temari continued to stare at him, seeming to forget her match with her other brother and taking in the sight she hasn't seen in years instead. Kankuro, puzzled by his sister's sudden quietness, followed her gaze and made a similar reaction.

Gaara, suddenly aware that two pairs of eyes were staring at him, paused his reading to look up to Temari, to Kankuro, and then back to his book, his face returning to its usual impassiveness.

Kankuro decided to turn the awkward situation to his advantage. "Hey, a smile! See, Temari? Even Gaara agrees with me! Right, Gaara?" He turned to his brother and snickered.

Before Gaara could say anything, Temari started going off with a new set of insults. She was trying to look angry at Kankuro for bringing up her old nickname, but deep inside, she told herself that if it took getting teased to make Gaara smile, perhaps she would let Kankuro call her Porcupine Head all he wanted.

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 **A/N:** I'm so happy I finally got to update Firsts! Hope you guys liked it, and please review! Also, I'm thinking of doing chapters from Gaara's perspective as well. Let me know what you guys think!


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